LONG BEACH – There must be a curse on the Long Beach State women’s basketball team. The 49ers have had major injuries to several key players who have seen little or no action this season, and it’s safe to say that has contributed significantly to their less-than-stellar campaign.

But after Thursday’s comeback victory at Cal State Fullerton, Coach Mary Hegarty had high hopes good things were on the horizon.

Then four of the 49ers came down with a stomach virus late Friday night and could not play Saturday in a key Big West Conference game against UC Irvine.

None of the four – Melanie Lisnock, Ally Wade, Brett Timmons and Lindsey Beckner – are starters. But three of them are key reserves.

They were not allowed on the bench or in the locker room at halftime. Instead, they watched from the stands as UCI defeated LBSU, 68-62, at Walter Pyramid.

Another player, Lauren Sims, became ill during the game and did not play in the second half.

The loss puts the 49ers (4-16, 1-7) back in the cellar. The Anteaters (5-16, 2-6) are now a game up on Long Beach with eight to play. Eight of the nine teams will qualify for the conference postseason tournament.

The 49ers gave up 42 points in the first half to a team averaging 49.6 points per game. Their thin bench played a role. But Courtney Jacob, who scored nine points and took an elbow to her eye in the second half, said the team should have done better.

“It’s just another adversity thing. I mean, we can fight through it,” said Jacob, when asked if her team felt hexed. “It shouldn’t have slowed us down. And we let it.”

Long Beach trailed by as much as 58-42 with 9:45 to play. The 49ers hung in there and pulled within 64-60 with 48.4 seconds left. But it was too little, too late.

Senior guard Lynea Williams led Long Beach with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Whitney Fields had 14 points and seven rebounds. But she was just 3-for-18 from the field. Adelle Walton scored nine points.

Williams played well for all of her 22 minutes.

“I just had to go out there and play hard for my team, you know, pick them up, lift them up,” Williams said. “We had a few issues with people being sick. … So I just went out there and played hard and played aggressive and, hopefully, did a good job.”

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